


Episode One:  Exiled to Paradise

by keirajo



Series: Transformers: Star Voyager [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Off-screen death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soldiers, Terrorism, Trauma, raunchy dialogue, respect for authority
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keirajo/pseuds/keirajo
Summary: Ultra Magnus is the youngest and most recent member to the Voyager Class elite unit under Sentinel Prime.  His fellow soldiers are all open and easygoing, one day he hopes to fit in with them.  During a three-day festival in the city of Iacon, something is about to happen that will change his entire path in life.





	Episode One:  Exiled to Paradise

**Author's Note:**

> There's a very important reason I've chosen to use the rather literal romajii translation of Deathsaurus' name in this episode. It will become apparent much later. My references come from physical reference material I own (I'm not well-versed in the internet stuff), such as the "Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging" and other wonderful TF books. :)

_**Episode One:  Exiled to Paradise** _

 

_About four million years ago from the present day, give or take a few centuries………._

 

            Iacon was known as the seat of Cybertron’s ruling Council of Primes, as well as the Head of State—it was also where the spacebridge that linked it to its ten colonies happened to be, as well.   As so much came to focus on Iacon, it was only natural that the people had gravitated to the city as well.  It had grown into a city much larger than it should ever have been, therefore that had come to forge homelessness, poverty and discontent in its depths.  For the past two-hundred years, the Council of Primes had been trying to relocate most in Iacon—either to the colonies or in more lightly populated cities elsewhere on Cybertron.

            However, people in Iacon tended to resist being taken from their “home”, even if they were in the most impoverished areas of the city.

            Perhaps it was because it was a large city.  Perhaps it was because of the poverty.  Perhaps it was merely because this was where the planet’s leaders were.   However, for some reason a small sect of religiously devoted followers called the “ ** _Pride of Megatronus_** ”—followers of Unicron’s dark prophet—had risen up and gained stronger numbers over time in Iacon.   They had started off as a small and seemingly innocuous enough—equal rights for all, end poverty, abolish the slums, give everyone government-insured jobs…….things like that.  But then the _riots_ started.

            At first, Iacon’s local law enforcement divisions had been able to handle the various situations……soon enough you’d hear names like “Commander Orion Pax” or “Lieutenant Prowl” dominating the newsfeeds all the time.   However, Sentinel Prime had begun to worry about the ongoing safety of all citizens in Iacon—especially when the unnamed gladiator showed up as the new face of the Pride of Megatronus cult.  This gladiator had pushed the cult to more violent measures and Sentinel was concerned that it would not just destroy Iacon, but spread out and leave lasting wounds across the face of Cybertron itself.

            He had begun to reassign his own personal military guard unit, the Voyager Class elite unit, to keep the peace in excessively large crowds and gatherings.  The Voyager Class unit had received their name from the type of special expanded armour they all wore.  There were only _ten_ members in the unit.  Ideally, Sentinel Prime had been training them to be the personal bodyguards of each of the Primes on the council, but with the Pride of Megatronus cult causing troubles and starting riots—well, the reason for the Voyager Class unit’s existence had changed over time.  So now they were there to handle the riots that Iacon’s general police force was unprepared for.

            A big festival was coming up, here in Iacon.  It was to celebrate the founding of the colonies—the festival was only held once every one-hundred years.  Everyone in the city put all their effort into the festivities.  There would be street vendors (and probably thieves), various activities (with probably dumb arguments and public drunkenness) and concerts by some of the most well-known bands all across Cybertron (which would probably also include public drunkenness and other recreational drug use).

            Despite all the usual anticipation of disruptions, Sentinel was certain that the growing violent nature of the Pride of Megatronus cult would ignite _something_ at some point during the three-day festival.   He had reassigned his Voyager Class unit to be at various places during the festival and today had asked them all to gather together for assignments at the building considered their “homebase”.   It was a building that Sentinel Prime had purchased specifically for the use of his elite unit and was a combined workout space, habitation block and administration office.

            This day, the Prime entered the locker room, where he had asked his unit to gather for the assignment rundown.  He looked around and saw eight of the ten members lounging around on benches, doing stretches on the floor, or other things.  Ultra Magnus, the youngest and newest member of the unit, had his locker open and looked to be reorganizing it.   As soon as his blue optics focused on Sentinel Prime in the locker room, he barked at everyone else to come to attention.

            “At ease,” Sentinel said, making a settle down motion with his hands.  The orange-and-yellow colored Prime glanced about again.  “Where are Star Saber and Deszaras?”  He asked, curiously tilting his head at the rest of the unit in the room.

            Skyhammer tried to stifle his laughter, but Roadblock outright chortled.

            The purple-with-gold-coloring mech shot to his feet, raising a hand to his head in a brisk salute.  “Fragging in the washracks, _sir_!”  Roadblock laughed, grinning as he made the raunchy statement.

            Almost as if they had coordinated the action beforehand, both Sentinel Prime and Ultra Magnus facepalmed themselves.  The red-blue-white mech slapped his face with his right hand, while the orange-and-yellow Prime slapped his face with his left hand.

            “Well, it’s not as if we all haven’t had our chance at Deszaras’ pretty valve,” Greatshot chuckled as he rubbed polish on his blue boots.  His red upper torso was gleaming with a finished polish job already.  “He tends to get horny both _before and after_ a hard day’s work.”

            “ _Ultra Magnus_ hasn’t fragged Des, yet,” Ginrai reminded, politely, as he chuckled after his statement.  His frame was a fairly common bulky box-shape, with the popular red-blue-white color scheme on it.  At the moment, he was doing some small fixes to his helm—the pointed finials, to be specific—so he had a bare crown and the biolights pulsed faintly across his skull.   Without his helmet on, he was also absent his traditional warrior’s facial shield.   Like this, it was easy to see the design similarities to his Spark-brother, Orion Pax.   They both had a similar facial construction and their protoform skeletons had many similarities, but Ginrai’s Voyager Armour made him larger and bulkier than his Spark-brother.

            “I have no interest in _‘facing_ with any of you roughhousers,” Ultra Magnus groaned, finally removing his palm from his face.  His pillared shoulders still contained a posture of tension, though.  “Sir, should I go retrieve them?”  He asked, turning to his fiery-colored Prime.

            “No, I’ll go myself,” Sentinel responded with a light chuckle.  “If his valve is _that_ pretty, maybe _I’ll_ enjoy a quick frag with him.”

            Everyone except Ultra Magnus howled with laughter.   Every member of the unit admired and respected their Prime, plus they all _liked_ him very much.  Sentinel Prime could be gruff and serious, but he cared about the soldiers in his elite unit very deeply.  Sentinel had _raised_ half of them from sparklings and _intensely trained_ all of them.   They were all very close to one another, except for Ultra Magnus.  The younger member of the unit held himself back from participating in their chosen ideas of fun, but they all knew it was because of his background.  Sentinel had found Ultra Magnus as a very young sparkling—yet unnamed and without even his first frame—abandoned in the most impoverished part of Iacon.  The flame-colored Prime was the only person Ultra Magnus had any kind of bond with.

            The other soldiers of the unit simply figured that Ultra Magnus just needed time.   He was still very new to the Voyager Class unit and his own Voyager Armour.   He barely had a decade to either of those, when everyone else had been in the unit and had their own Voyager Armour for a century or more.   It was possible that once Ultra Magnus had a century or so with them, he’d lighten up and be as open with the other members of the unit as they all were with each other.

            “Relax, Ultra Magnus,” Dai Atlus said, with a warm smile.   His Voyager Armour was probably of the oldest kind of design, like Ginrai’s—very solid and square and bulky.  He had a dark blue color scheme, punctuated with vivid yellow and a few eye-catching stripes of red in it.   His helm had a distinctive tri-pointed crown shape.  “The festival will be a _breeze_.  The Pride cult has never been more than we can handle.”

            “I know,” Ultra Magnus responded, nodding at the oldest member of the group respectfully.  He wished he could relax more, like all of them, but he always felt he had to prove himself to Sentinel Prime.   “They don’t like being labelled a _‘cult’_ though—it just makes them angry.”

            Black Shadow pulled himself up to his pedes, he had just been doing various stretches in an open corner of the locker room floor.  His ebony armour gleamed under the lights.  “They _should_ be called **_terrorists_** , because every time they cause their little riots they are spreading fear,” he growled sharply as he stretched his arms.

            “That’s true!”  Blue Bacchus agreed, flopping down onto a bench on his chest.  Black Shadow slapped his sparkmate on the polished blue aft, a bit playfully, to make him sit up and make room to cuddle for a bit on the bench together.   They had been Spark-bonded for a very long time……..and though they often joined in the open attitudes of the unit, they were unequivocally devoted to one another.

            “I think our Prime may have decided to take Des’ lovely little valve,” Greatshot chuckled, seeing a miffed Star Saber stomping towards them.  “Look Star, we all told you to make it a _quick frag_ ………it’s not our fault you two’ve been hiding out in the washracks for like an hour.”

            “ _Nnngh_ ……..I just wanted to make him overload **_one more time_** ,” Star Saber muttered, crashing to a bench and snagging a towel.   His red-and-white armour dripped with cleansing gel and water, so he began scrubbing angrily at his own body.

            “ _Slag_ , Star…………you know that Deszaras can pretty much overload _forever_ , if you’ve got the stamina to keep up with him,” Ginrai groaned, finally fitting his helmet back on his head and let the facial shield snap back into place for a moment, to test it.  “He’ll either be satisfied by Sentinel Prime or he’ll have to wait until the festival’s over.  Now, _fuel up_ —Sentinel’s brought some high-grade Energon for us.  He’s going to make sure we get a can each day, so that we can keep going without having to go offline for recharge for the next three days.”

            Ultra Magnus began handing out the large cans of high-grade Energon to everyone in the locker room, making sure to hold the last two back for Sentinel Prime and Deszaras.

            “Anyone know who’s performing tonight?” Star Saber asked as he scooped his towel into a sling-like shape and hooked it around his right pede, scrubbing the bottom of it and the sides of the boot.  He had set his can down beside him until he was done drying off his dripping frame.

            “ ** _Lifespark_** ……..I hear it’s to be their _final_ concert, _ever_ ,” Dai Atlas responded, taking a large swig of his high-grade.  “ _Hell_ ……they’ve been around since **_I_** was a sparkling!”  He laughed, warmly.   Dai Atlas had a deep voice that was always balanced with kindness in its layered tones.

            “You know their sound’s been different ever since Ei-Three left to do politics and become the Head of Cybertron known as _‘Alpha Trion’_ ,” Skyhammer responded.  His gold and red armour flashed under the locker room lights as he stretched his arms and then sipped at his can of high-grade.  “Though honestly, I’ve never seen anyone match Ei-Three’s hard guitar sounds.  Probably why they became more _ballad-y_ after he left.”

            “It’s not that Thundercracker dude’s fault—I think the rest of the band just wanted to sound different than Ei-Three’s version of the band,” Roadblock sighed, shrugging and taking a long pull from his can of Energon.

            “Who else is playing through the festival?”  Star Saber asked, switching to quickly pull the towel along his left pede and then popped open his can of Energon to almost swallow it all in one go.

            “ _Epic Nova_ is scheduled tomorrow, with _Rough Pavement_ opening for them,” Ultra Magnus said evenly, scanning a datapad as he drank his high-grade slowly and measuredly.   “ _Nnngh_ …….I’m not really into the growly vocals of _Rough Pavement_ , but I’m a pretty devoted fan to _Epic Nova’s_ hard rock sounds.”  Ultra Magnus swiped a few more screens on his datapad to get to the lineup on the final day of the festival.  “Looks like there’s a sparkling’s drama show—one of those _weird little hero_ shows—in the early part of the day.   They’re busing in a lot of younglings from other cities.  Closing out the stage and the festival is…………. _holy Primus in the afterspark_!”  Ultra Magnus gasped, nearly dropping both his datapad and the can of Energon.

            “ _Whoooooooooooooo is it, Maaaaaaaaaaags?!   Tellllllllllllllll meeeeeeeeeeee!!!_ ”  Star Saber screamed, gripping his can and dropping his towel as he turned to stare at the red-white-blue mech.

            “It’s………..wow, it’s **_Primal Junction_** from Crystal City!   I’ve _always_ wanted to hear them live in concert!”  Ultra Magnus said with great excitement.

            “ _No waaaaaaaaay!!!_ ”  Star Saber squealed, getting up from the bench and running around in excited circles.  “I’ve got _all_ their albums!”

            “So do I!  Man, I really hope that I can be assigned near the stage area on the last day!”  Ultra Magnus said, happily.

            “I’ll see if I can arrange that,” Sentinel Prime said, as he came back to the main area of the locker room with a sheepish Deszaras behind him.  The deep blue mech, with his sleek aerial frame and yellow speed lines, had a deep flush permanently attached to his faceplate, it seemed.  Sentinel picked up the last two cans of high-grade Energon and handed one to Deszaras behind him, then took a hard chug from the can he opened for himself.  “You’re all very much right, Deszaras _does_ have a very pretty little valve,” the Prime chuckled, grinning at his elite unit of soldiers.

 

*      *      *      *      *

 

            At their first walkthrough of the festival, Sentinel Prime had paired all the Voyager Class unit members himself and gave them all specific areas to cover within Iacon.  On the first day, Ultra Magnus was paired with Ginrai and they were assigned at one of the more impoverished quarters of the city.  It was fairly quiet when compared to the larger, more populated, areas of Iacon.  But they still were in the festival mood down here, even if they didn’t have much money to spend on lavish activities……..there were some varied street performers and a few tiny stalls of snacks and low-grade, watered-down drinks.

            “I honestly think this is just as wonderful as the main thoroughfares,” Ginrai chuckled, purchasing a small pack of Energon crisps from some younglings running a booth on a barely-lit corner.

            “It’s true,” Ultra Magnus agreed with a warm chuckle, also purchasing a bag of Energon crisps for himself.  He looked at his datapad for the remainder of the assignments for the weekend and noted that tomorrow he would be paired with Dai Atlus around the main vendor area in the heart of Iacon.  Then on the final day, he had been assigned to the staging area with Skyhammer.

            “ ** _Ginrai_**!”  A new voice called, waving to the tall red-and-blue warrior at Ultra Magnus’ side.  This mech was of a more normal Cybertronian size, therefore smaller than both himself and Ginrai in their Voyager Armour, but his frame was firmly built.   It had a curvature structure that was compact and suited for a flexible fighter.  But the stranger’s armour had a design shape slightly similar to Ginrai’s, as well as the same red-and-blue color scheme.

            “Ah, Orion……….are you assigned patrols around here, too?” Ginrai chuckled, greeting his Spark-brother warmly.   “Ultra Magnus, this is Orion Pax of the Iacon Police Department.  Orion, this is the newest member of the Voyager Class unit, he goes by Ultra Magnus.”

            Orion extended a friendly hand, smiling at Ultra Magnus.  The taller red-white-blue mech accepted the friendly handshake and appraised the shorter mech.   He had a very rounded helm, the complete opposite of Ginrai’s with its sharply pointed finials, nor did this Orion Pax have a warrior’s facial shield—however, Ultra Magnus could see a lot of similarities between the two Spark-brother’s frames.

            “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ultra Magnus,” Orion responded, cheerfully smiling up at the soldier.

            “Likewise, Commander Pax,” Ultra Magnus said in return, formally bowing to the shorter mech.

            Ultra Magnus let the two brothers chat warmly and gave them a few moments of privacy as he walked over to watch a group of street performers reenact a popular drama scene.

            “He seems a bit _stiff_ , bro,” Orion said to Ginrai, chuckling lightly.

            “He’s a really good kid.  Sentinel wanted to give him a chance and his Spark’s in the right place……plus his body adapted easily to the interface in the Voyager Armour,” Ginrai replied, a smile spreading across his faceplate, beneath the facial shield.  “He’s also a _damn good fighter_ —in fact, he may even one day be better than Sentinel Prime.”

            “You really do think so, don’t you?” Orion asked, a tone of awe in his light voice as he turned his blue optics up to his brother’s faceplate.

            “He’s a natural born fighter, _someone like that_ has a grand destiny just waiting for them,” Ginrai responded, nodding towards Ultra Magnus.  “Those with the secret, special skills tend to get overlooked and……well, it’s not like his ability to learn and adapt infinitely is as flashy as that one subordinate of yours who can project forcefields.”

            “Well then.  It sounds like you really enjoy everyone in the Voyager Class unit, so you’re probably not coming back to law enforcement—are you?”  Orion asked, grinning at his Spark-brother.

            “ _Nope_ ,” Ginrai laughed softly.

            After a while, Ginrai and Ultra Magnus went back to their observations and patrols.  At the end of their shift together, they walked back to the base and met with the rest of the unit.   They all got given another can of high-grade Energon to get through another day without a recharge cycle.  Then they all continued on to their second day of observations and patrols.

            The second day proved to be just as quiet and as normal as the first.   As Sentinel Prime met with them all for refueling before the start of the third day, he cautioned everyone not to drop their guards.  He seemed to be extremely anxious—and very worried that the Pride of Megatronus cult hadn’t made any moves yet.   He said to everyone several times before they left on their third day of patrols and observations that they should all be careful and to remember all their training.  Save the people first, before following the villains.

            On the third day, Ultra Magnus was at the grand stage area, keeping an eye on the set-up for the sparklings’ little hero drama program.   Skyhammer was with him around the stage area, while Ginrai and Blue Bacchus were walking patrols along the outer perimeter of the stage area.  Busloads of younglings were disembarking and crowding about the stage.  There were sparklings of all ages there…….from little protoforms that were just small and rounded and hadn’t yet found their true shape, to spirited younglings that had already gotten their first frame.

            The area was quickly becoming full and overcrowded.

            “You look as anxious as Sentinel did earlier,” Skyhammer replied, lightly clapping Ultra Magnus on the shoulder.  “Nothing will get past us, don’t worry.”

            Ultra Magnus nodded, glancing at the stage, but he just couldn’t shake the sense of anxiety in his Spark and frame.   Right as the performance began, there was an explosion.  The youngest member of the Voyager Class unit thought that it was part of the show, until……….

            …………. _that happened_ …………..

            …………………….and more explosions turned the world white, before it went absolutely black.

 

*      *      *      *      *

 

            When Ultra Magnus came to, he was in a medical ward.  And he was very aware that he was no longer wearing his Voyager Armour—he felt rather naked and small without it.   He had not been without the armour in over ten years.   Magnus raised his right hand above him, the white arm and blue fist……it was all his _original_ frame now.

            “Magnus, you’re awake,” a familiar, deep voice said.  In a few moments, the fiery orange-and-yellow armour of Sentinel Prime came into his view.  “Besides all of the obvious things……..how do you feel?”  The serious Prime asked.

            “Alive, I suppose, is all I can say for certain,” Magnus murmured.  “What happened?”

            Sentinel Prime’s optics dimmed beneath their aqua tempered glass covers.  He began to explain that the forensics units had deduced that sometime during all the shift changes, terrorists—likely the members of the Pride of Megatronus cult—had planted bombs in and around the entire stage area.  Once the first bomb had detonated, the chain reaction for all the others could not be stopped.   By the time it was all over, there were more Cybertronians dead than there were ones who survived the attack.

            At least half of the sparklings were all dead, the other half had grave injuries and only time would tell if they would survive or not.  The majority of the staff for the staging area were all dead.  As Sentinel Prime explained it all, Magnus’ brain brought up flashes of the events unfolding—sometimes playing at super-speed and sometimes playing out slow inside his head.  He remembered running—trying to coordinate efforts to evacuate all the younglings.

            “Skyhammer, Ginrai and Blue Bacchus are all dead,” Sentinel said with a deep, _deep_ sigh.  “When the stage began exploding, the others all went immediately looking for the terrorists.  Deszaras was taken captive by that gladiator with no name, the one fronting the cult.”

            “Black Shadow………..they were _Spark-bonded_ ………..is he………?”  Magnus gasped, saddened at hearing the death list from the Voyager Class unit.

            “He’s hurting far more than I can explain.  The doctors have sedated him, for now,” Sentinel answered, shaking his head.

            “And………..my armour?”  Magnus asked, his voice sounding very quiet and small, even to him.

            Sentinel sighed softly, reaching down to rub Magnus’ helmed head, being very careful around the sharply pointed finials and sensor scopes.  The white of Magnus’ original body always made Sentinel remember how honest and pure the younger Cybertronian was.

            “It’s very badly damaged, but it saved your life,” Sentinel Prime finally answered.  “My people are going to try and fix it, but it may take a _long time_.  And………” the Prime trailed off.  Magnus looked up at him expectantly.  “It may take time to re-bond to the armour once it’s fixed, because you’ve gained a fierce trauma from the attack.”

            “I don’t understand…………” Magnus murmured, puzzled.

            “You’ve come to a nearly-conscious state several times, crying and screaming in _absolute fear_ —I think the deaths have laid the _mark of trauma_ on your Spark,” the fiery-colored Prime said, softly.  “While we fix your armour, you shall be sent to recover on one of the colony worlds—where I hope you can overcome your trauma.”

            Magnus’ whole body shuddered, his hands clenching into fists.   He had been useless to his unit and his Prime, after all.

            “I’d rather have you alive and healthy than to see you suffer, Magnus,” Sentinel said, gently, brushing Magnus’ jawline, easy to do when the facial shield had been retracted.  “I’m going to send you to the colony world that I founded, _Corona_.  I want you to be somewhere peaceful and safe to recover from your trauma.”

            A few days later, Magnus had been released from the medical ward.  He had gone back to the Voyager Class unit’s homebase to gather some of his personal belongings.   After packing it all into a large duffel bag, he went to the lounge area where the remaining living members of the unit were all gathered.   It felt strange to only see like half the unit there………..and to see them all so quiet and not joking around or chatting excitedly.

            Dai Atlas was the first one to recognize Magnus without his expanded armour, as he walked into the lounge.  Most likely none of the others had ever seen “Ultra Magnus” without the familiar blue-red-white bulky frame on.  The older Cybertronian got up from where he’d been sitting and walked over to Magnus, hugging him fondly.

            Magnus was now so much smaller than all of them, without his Voyager Armour.

            “What’s wrong, Magnus?”  Roadblock asked, his deep voice soft and quiet.

            “None of you are going to say anything?” Magnus pouted, staring at the floor, unable to look at the other four Voyager Class soldiers in the room.  Dai Atlas, Roadblock, Star Saber and Greatshot were all there……Magnus had gathered that the only reason Black Shadow wasn’t there now was that he was still sparkbroken and grieving.

            “Well………..I’d heard your original frame was similar to Ginrai’s original model in design—so it’s not really surprising,” Greatshot said with a soft chuckle.  “There are lots of base frames that are common and sometimes people attach to popular styles of kibble.  Knowing how simple you prefer your life, you probably picked a common base frame and kibble out of the catalogue when you went for your lifetime frame.”

            “Not _that_!”  Magnus snapped, on the verge of something that may have been anger—or maybe even tears.  He had never even considered that the style of his blue-and-white frame looked a bit like Ginrai’s, not even for a moment.  “I _failed_ you all…….and now I’m being _exiled_ ……….” he whispered, sadly.

            “You’re being placed on _recovery leave_ until you’re better and your armour’s fixed—don’t twist things around, Magnus,” Sentinel Prime growled as he entered the base’s lounge.  He reached down and gave Magnus’ white helm a gentle rubbing.  “Come on, say your farewells and then we’re off to the spacebridge,” he added in a fond voice.

            Magnus went around to all of them and said his farewells, with a hope that he would be able to return to the unit one day soon.  Then Sentinel Prime escorted him to the secure area of the main government block building in Iacon, where the spacebridge was. 

            “Corona has a trine of leaders…..Metalhawk, Landmine and Waverider.  Your situation has been explained to them.  Though, most often, you will likely only have any interaction with their _administrative assistant_ —his name is Cloudburst,” the fiery-colored Prime explained to Magnus.  Then he gently brought his head down and touched it to Magnus’ with true fondness.  “I’ll be asking my old friend to send me reports on your progress.  His name is Siren, you’ll be working with him in the capital city’s law enforcement division.  Eventually, if your progress is good and your armour is repaired—then I will call for you to come back to Cybertron.”

            Then Sentinel pulled away and gently clapped his servos on Magnus’ shoulders.

            “If something happens—something we cannot control—I want you to remain where you are and protect the colony of Corona,” the Prime said fiercely.  “I will send you periodic datamail reports of things here in the unit and on Cybertron, but if for some reason you stop receiving datamail from me, then you will know that what we’ve all feared has come to pass.”

            “I………..understand, sir,” Magnus said, softly, shifting the duffle bag anxiously on his back.

            “Take care of yourself, Magnus,” Sentinel Prime said, hugging his loyal, young soldier.  “I truly hope that we are able to meet again, one day,” he added, giving Magnus a light shove towards the bright, swirling gate of the spacebridge.

            “I hope so, too, my Prime,” Magnus murmured, sadness deep in his voice.

            As Magnus stepped through the swirling light, he found himself in a new location.  He knew instantly he was far from Cybertron when he could sense a heavy feeling in the air—there was an _atmosphere_ here.  A mech with a red-and-grey frame greeted him and introduced himself as Cloudburst—so this was the leaders’ administrative assistant?   Cloudburst said they’d go over to the main Administration Building to finish processing the paperwork—then he’d take Magnus to the place he would be living at.

            As they walked down a large set of stairs from the building they were in, Magnus looked out over what he could see of the land outside of the buildings.  It was a _partially cyberformed_ world.  The Cybertronian had never seen this much of any organic nature ever before in his life.  Whatever small bits he’d seen were only in Iacon’s museums and some laboratories.   The two mechs walked down a paved walkway, which had been done in an artistic manner with simple and common stones, set carefully into the dirt and the greenery.

            The sky………… _so different_ than Cybertron’s eternal field of stars………clearly showed that the planet had a chemical makeup for its atmosphere.  The tastes on Magnus’ olfactory and glossa sensors said it was some mix of oxygen and other trace elements.  It was _weird_ and would take some getting used to.

            As of now, as the two walked down the paved path, the sun-star was low to the horizon………it had made the sky turn vivid colors.  The flame colors near the horizon reminded Magnus of Sentinel Prime, but arching above them the colors were more of a deep blue and purple, showing pinpoints of light just starting to become visible through the element-rich atmosphere.

            “It’s…………. _beautiful_ ,” Magnus whispered, drinking it all in.  Perhaps being exiled to this paradise would not be so terrible after all………….?

**Author's Note:**

> I had to take a break from typing "Gods"--it's a long slog, as all the others in that series are (*laughs*), but it's even harder for me to write a cranky Rodimus for practically 20 pages straight. This chapter of the new work is shorter and doesn't feature a cranky Rodimus. But "Gods" will come along, soon! Thank you to everyone who has left kudos on my works and made me feel far more welcome over here than at the other fan-fiction site! :D


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